Rubber-Band Gun Powered by Electric Drill

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Rubber-Band Gun Powered by Electric Drill

This drill-powered rubber-band gun can spit hundreds of stretchy, stinging projectiles in a few seconds. The rather weak rubber-bands it is loaded with have trouble taking out a pile of frail and featherlight paper cups — a single, decent sized band fired from the fingers would probably do better.

But that’s not the point here. First, marvel at the ingeniously simple firing mechanism. The electric drill simply rotates a cylinder around which is coiled a cord. As this cord unfurls, it gently pops the bands off their pins, one by one. Simple, neat and foolproof. The design and execution are by a Mr. Nakamura of the Japan Rubber Band Shooting Association. Yes, such an organization exists.

And those individual pins bring us to the other point. This thing holds 200 shots, which means stretching 200 rubber bands over the nails. This makes my latest DIY endeavor — building the Death Star from matchsticks — look like an afternoon project. Even after my neighbor, Luke, snuck in one night and smashed up the first version. The idiot.